As the Congress endorsed him for another term as Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan said, he did not expect any problem in the government formation exercise, which would begin after ally NCP elected the leader of its legislature party.
In an indication that NCP may lose some portfolios it held in the previous term, Chavan made it clear that government formation would take into account the strength of the Congress and the NCP in the Maharashtra Assembly.
Chavan, for whom the party endorsement came as an advance birthday gift, also said there was “no question” of taking the support of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which made a stunning debut, winning 13 seats. He turns 51 on Wednesday.
The Congress-NCP combine won 144 seats, one short of majority in the 288-member House. Of this, the Congress won 82 seats and NCP bagged the remaining 62 as against 68 and 71 respectively in 2004. In the outgoing government, NCP had 24 ministers, while 19 were from the Congress. Describing his second innings as a “Test match”, Chavan said government formation would be a smooth exercise but refused to get into its nitty gritty, maintaining it would be inappropriate to speak on the issue without talking to NCP.
“This would be a Test match and not a one-day match,” he said, when asked to comment on his priorities in the second innings.
The new leader of the NCP legislature party will be the Deputy Chief Minister. Water Resources Minister Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, appears to be the front runner for the post. However, incumbent Chhagan Bhujbal was also keen to continue in the post, NCP sources said in Mumbai.
Asked about the possibility of Maharashtra having two deputy CMs, Chavan said, “So far, there is no discussion on this issue.”
About his priorities in the new term, Chavan said he would work towards making the state self- sufficient in the power sector within the next three years. Protecting the slum clusters that had come up till 2000 in Mumbai would also be a priority of his government, he said adding at the same time his endeavour would be to enforce the law firmly to ensure that no more encroachments happened.
“Adequate attention would be given to ensure that no new encroachments take place. We will enforce the law firmly to stop this cycle of mushrooming of slums and later regularising them,” he said. Another priority would be the welfare of farmers, Chavan sai, adding special attention would be given to monitor their condition in the drought-hit Vidarbha region, where several farmers had committed suicide.
The Congress announced that Chavan would continue as CM after a meeting of senior leaders with party chief Sonia Gandhi, which concluded past midnight on Saturday.
Chavan, who won from Bhokar by a margin of over 100,000 votes, met senior Congress leaders, including A K Antony, Digvijay Singh, K Rahman Khan, Ahmed Patel, Shivraj Patil to thank them for their support during the elections.
He also called on President Pratibha Patil. Chavan also met NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, with whom he discussed the issue of cotton purchase, as the harvest season for the crop was to begin from 1 November.
Asked whether he discussed the issue of government formation with Pawar, the CM replied in the negative. Chavan also said there were no discussions yet on demanding the post of the Speaker of the Assembly from the NCP. NCP leader Babasaheb Kupekar is the Speaker of the outgoing Assembly.
